Abstract:Transitioning a growing development team into smaller, mission-oriented sub-teams is challenging, particularly until a collaborative decision making process for shared concerns is agreed upon. Within the framework of XP, we hypothesize that this challenge comes from a fracturing of shared understanding as those sub-teams form and storm. In order to navigate this process and re-establish that shared understanding, we took inspiration from Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR), which is the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States.
Some of the specific inspirations we drew from RONR were to establish a formal charter and bylaws, treating our wider development team as a formal organization; we reimagined and redefined these and other formalities in terms of Agile ceremonies and XP practices. We will describe the integrated framework we developed and will share our experience implementing it at IBM Watson to foresee and ease organizational growing pains, accelerating the onboarding process and allowing our organization to grow more effectively.
Lessons Learned from Your Experience:- By the end of the session, attendees will have a better sense for how growing teams can establish guidelines for decision making to ensure better communication and knowledge sharing.
- A historical view of the evolution of self-organization of groups that have shared values or goals.
- Example rules of order guidelines that they can take back to their teams.
